Ant-trap.



No. s7|,34|. Pafmn Apr. 2, |901.

J. IvNMAN.

ANT TRAP.

(Appliction lsd Oct. 31, 1900 l(No Ilndsl.)

NiTnn STATES iATENT rrlcn.

JOSEPH INMAN, OF SHFRMAN, TEXAS.

ANT-TRAP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 671,341, dated April 2, 1901.

Application filed October 31| 1900' bl'al NO- 351015- (NO mOde--l To all whom t may concern/.-

Be it known that I, J osnPH INMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sherman, in the county of Grayson and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ant-Traps; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to that class of anttraps in which two reversely-arranged sheetmetal conical walls are arranged to form a vessel which when placed around the entrance to their nest is adapted for entrapping and retaining allthe ants that may approachit from within or without.

The object of my invention is to produce a simple device of this kind which will excel the former traps in depositing the ants within the annular pan and in efficiency for convenient discharge of the trapped insects.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure l is a top view, and Fig. 2 a central vertical section through the line Qc My invention comprises the` combination of a centrally-perforated base-plate A, an outwardly-sloping inner wall B, fastened to the upper face of the base-plate and extending upward therefrom, surroundingr the hole C in the base-plate and provided at its upper rim with a downwardly-projecting annular ange a', and an inwardly-sloping outer wall D, fastened to the rim of the base-plate around the inner wall and provided with the downwardly-sloping annular flange a', thus forming between the two Walls and base-plate an annular chamber E, which is open at the top and virtually triangular in cross-section- The annular flanges a a' have a more abrupt angle or descent downward than the walls B and D and are crimped around their upper edges, slightly overlapping the upper edges of walls B D, Where they are secured by suitable hooks h.

In practice the trap is set upon the ground with the margin ofthe hole C surrounding the ant-hole. The ants will come out of the ant-hole and pass up the sloping inner wall B until they come to the ledge c, over which they will pass, and immediately upon doing so they slide down the abrupt and smooth descent of same into the chamber E, from which it is impossible for them to escape. If the trap is placed at the ant-hole after any ants have left the same on a foraging expedition, such ants when returning will pass up the outside of wall D and over the ledge c and into the chamber E, thus becoming entrapped in said chamber. My trap thus serves at one setting to catch all the ants which leave or try to return to the nest while the trap is set. i It has been fully demonstrated that ants of any species will not deliberately Walk over the abrupt upper walls or ledges of most traps heretofore constructed, but all will hesitate upon approaching them and many turn back, thus escaping being caught, while with my device the idea seems to prevail that as they have safely ascended the outward-sloping wall they can as securely descend the narrow inner ledges; but these being on a more acute angle and very smooth cause them to at once slide down these ledges and into chamber E, from whence escape is impossible.

When caught in the trap the ants may be destroyed by pou ring hot water into the chamber E, when by lifting the hooks b and removing the annular rings a a' they may be poured out through the opening e between the tops of walls B and D.

It will be seen that the trap consists of a permanent integral body comprising two coucentric rings reversely and gradually inclined and connected at the bottom by a base-plate, so as to form an annular ant-receiving chamber, and further provided with detachable rings or annular flanges having their upper edges bent to hook on the upper edges of the gradually-inclined parts aforesaid, the said flanges being held in place by hooks on the permanent body and inclinedtoo steeply for ants to refrain from falling through the annular opening between the said lianges.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In an ant-trap, a permanent body consisting of two concentric rings, the inner of which inclines outward and the outer inward, and a bottom for the annular ant-receiving cham- IOO ber between thein, in combinationv with two them and thel said trap being provided with steeply-inclined annular converging fianges a central opening corresponding tothe antprovided with bent parts fitting on the upper hole substantially as set forth. Y edges of the said rings and hooks Which are l p 5 pivoted on the said rings and catch over the Witnesses:

said anges to hold them in place, the saidv B. L. JONES,V flanges leaving an annular opening between B. F. STEEDMAN.

- JOSEPH INMAN. 

